Send Them Up a Message
by elsiefay
Summary: Tim needs ruthlessness and Jason needs some order. Maybe together they can actually make this work. Can be taken as either friendship or something else depending how you choose to see it. Hopefully will be updated regularly. Feedback is always appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

Jason, Tim and the other characters do not belong to me, I'm just playing with them for a bit. The titles comes from a line in the song Dreaming by Smallpools. I don't own that either.

Jason was not Tim's friend. He wasn't pleasant, he wasn't entirely stable, and sometimes he just plain scared Tim. But there was one thing Jason was, and that was ruthless. Tim needed ruthless, so Jason it was.

Tim sat on Jason's couch, patiently waiting for his erstwhile "brother" to return. The shabby apartment had been inspected, the traps had been disarmed, and now Tim had nothing to do but wait. Wait and smirk about his discovery that Jason Todd, the Red Hood, had the largest collection Broadway musical soundtracks Tim had ever seen. Tim had never given much thought to what Jason did with his leisure time. If forced to guess he would have assumed Jason spent his non-vigilante related time throwing things at people in bars and maybe playing a first person shooter or two. Lip syncing Seasons of Love would not have cracked the top one hundred of Tim's guesses. He'd assumed that if Jason listened to music at all it was exclusively thrash metal. It didn't matter one way or another but it reminded Tim just how little he knew of the older man. Tim hoped he wasn't misjudging Jason's suitability for the mission as badly as he'd misjudged his musical tastes.

Tim heard the lock click. Then there was a pause. A very long pause. Tim knew Jason must have realized someone had broken in. Finally the door flew open. Jason stood in the doorway, a pistol in either hand. Tim had expected this. He sat motionless on the couch as Jason levelled one gun at his head while scanning the studio apartment with the other. Finally Jason was satisfied that there were no other intruders and he relaxed slightly. He did not however lower his gun.

"No," Jason said firmly, his voice only slightly muffled by his hood.

"Pardon?" Tim asked.

"Whatever it is you want, the answer is no."

Tim smiled. "I think you might want to at least hear the offer first."

"I'll pass." Jason was removing his hood though, which Tim took to be a good sign.

"B will hate it," Tim said with a hint of a smile.

"There are a lot of things he hates, kid. I think I can manage to piss him off without your help." Jason had lower the pistol slightly.

"Yeah, but how many of those things involve Talia Al Ghul?"

Jason paused carefully. "Talia and I aren't allies. We have an understanding is all. And if she needs something from me she can come to me directly."

Tim shrugged. "Or she can't."

Jason was still wearing his domino mask but even with his eyes obscured Tim could tell that he was concerned. "Whatever trouble she's in is probably her own doing. I don't get involved in her affairs."

"Not even if it involved Joker?"

"Get out!" Jason yelled, the pistol pointed back at Tim's head. "I don't know what game you're playing but I'm not interested."

Tim bit his lip. "I'll spell it out: B is trying to save her but he has certain… 'lines' he doesn't cross and I don't think Talia can be saved without crossing those lines. Look, I don't like Talia, but I hate Joker more."

"And you want what? an attack dog? An expendable pawn you can throw at Joker and then let the chips fall where they may?"

"Pawns and chips? I think you're mixing your metaphors a bit. But no, I'm not looking for that. I'm looking for a partner."

Jason slowly holstered his pistols and sank down on the couch next to Tim. Tim could smell his leather jacket. "I take it you already have a plan?"

Tim nodded.

"Let's see it."

Tim knew he was in.

"Your plan is shit," Jason pronounced, glaring at the charts and blueprints that littered his coffee table.

"It can work," Tim said.

Jason shook his head and leaned back on the couch. "It really can't. For one thing you're underestimating Talia. Chances are she has a plan of her own and will just be mad at us for bumbling in and ruining it. And for another thing you're forgetting that this is the Joker we're dealing with."

"I'm not, I…" Tim started, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"Trust me, you don't know what he's capable of. You think you do, but you don't. He isn't rational, he can't be predicted, you can't chart out his moves on a pretty little spreadsheet."

"That's why there's contingency plans," Tim insisted, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

Jason shook his head again. Regardless of what Tim (and most of Gotham) might have thought he didn't actually hate the kid. Maybe he hated what he stood for, and maybe they didn't exactly always get along, but honestly he liked the kid. He'd offered more than once to let Tim be his sidekick; he didn't make that offer to people he didn't like. But despite that, he most definitely did not like Tim's plan. It was cold and pretty and neat and logical (just like Tim) but it would never work in practice. Those types of plans never did.

"Then how would you do it?" Tim asked, exasperated.

Jason smiled slightly.

Thoughts? Any feedback would be greatly appreciate. Thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: These characters still are not mine. I'll definitely be shouting it from the rooftops if them happens to change. Thanks for the feedback, follows, and favorites. I really appreciate it. Comments rocks!

"Almost there," Tim said. His voice was expressionless. Two hours trudging through a forest with Jason could have that effect on people. They'd been forced to ditch their bikes when the realized just how much surveillance was surrounding the site. So they'd been walking. Slowly, cautiously walking, trying to stay covered by the trees and ignore the off and on drizzle of rain. To make matters worse Jason was in a mood. Tim wasn't sure what was wrong with his brother and Jason wouldn't say, but in addition to the literal dark clouds hanging over their heads Tim could see some figurative ones trailing Jason as well.

"You're sure the map to the warehouse is accurate?" Jason asked, pausing to survey the area in front of them with his binoculars. Trees, trees, and more trees.

"I cross referenced the plans I intercepted with Google Earth. And the intel Damian beat out of one of the Joker's goons seems to confirm it. Dick and Bruce stopped him before he could have any of the other lackeys verify it though and they've got him on a pretty short leash right now. But yeah, I'm pretty sure."

Jason nodded. "So we're getting closer."

"That's the plan," Tim agreed. "You doing okay?"

"Never better. I… hold up, is that the warehouse?"

Tim took the binoculars from Jason and focused. He could see the building in the distance with at least a dozen visible guards surrounding it. He wondered how many guards there were that he couldn't see. "That's it. So now we just wait until dark."

"We could do this now. No one expects an attack in the middle of the afternoon. Get it over with." Jason sat with his back resting against a tree.

"Get it over with?" Tim repeated, sinking down next to him. "This isn't a suicide mission Jay. We have a plan and I intend to get out in one piece. If you have something different in mind I think you'd better tell me now. You owe it to me to tell me now."

"Don't know what you're talking about Baby Bird."

Tim wished, not for the first time, that Jason's hood allowed for a better view of his face. It made him difficult to read. Maybe that was the idea.

"We wait until dark," Tim pronounced. "Take a nap or something. Have you even slept since we talked last week?"

Jason mumbled something noncommittal.

Tim couldn't lecture too much about sleep deprivation though. He'd been running on three hours or less a night himself.

"I'll take watch," Tim said. It wasn't that Tim wouldn't have appreciated some sleep himself, but he'd noticed from literally years of observing Jason that his brother's erratic moods always seemed to worsen when he was sleep deprived. Tim trusted himself to function on no sleep. He wasn't sure he felt the same way about Jason.

The first thing Jason noticed when he woke up were the stars. They were everywhere. Stars were rarely visible in Gotham and it had been a long time since Jason had seen the sky like that. He was glad to see it.

"Ready?" Tim asked. The younger boy was carefully rechecking his equipment.

Jason yawned and stretched. "As I'll ever be."

"Just stick to the plan. Remember, if anyone asked later: Primary objective- rescue Talia. Secondary Objectives- Capture Joker, dismantle operation, and minimize casualties. That's the official story."

Jason smiled bitterly behind his hood. "I remember, Red. You've got the C4?"

"Enough to send this place a mile high three times over."

Jason nodded. Tim had never belonged with the Bats. The kid was too pragmatic. While Jason had been mildly alarmed when he'd found Tim sitting on his couch the week before, he wasn't shocked at all that he had become disenchanted with Bruce and Dick's "morals." Regardless of their high minded rhetoric it wasn't moral superiority that kept them from killing; it was niavity. And Jason knew full well what happened to naive vigilantes- they wound up dead. Jason was glad Tim had seen the light. Jason could almost believe that it could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Could be if only Jason had any plans to make it out of the warehouse alive.

"Let's do this," Jason said grimly.


	3. Chapter 3

This was not how Tim had hoped things would go. It had started well enough: the guards had been distracted at the cost of a few broken ribs on Jason's part, the second they opened the room where Talia was being held she'd barrelled out the room, refrained from shooting them in the head with a gun she'd somehow acquired and disappeared into the woods. That had all gone well or at least as well as could be expected. The problem had come when they'd moved onto the next part of the plan: eliminating Joker and the warehouse once and for all. He'd been ready for them. five steps ahead the whole time, probably been watching their every move since they'd gotten into the forest. They'd laid the explosives and set the timers no problem but then the doors had all slammed closed, and all the locks had engaged. Joker, his only visible weapon a crowbar strolled into the room, trailed by ten of his mooks, all with semiautomatics.

Next to Tim, Jason giggled, slightly hysterical. "I warned you, didn't I? I…" Jason coughed roughly, cutting himself off.

Tim rubbed Jason's back awkwardly. Broken ribs were rough. You could fight through them, but it wasn't a good time.

"My naughty little prodigal Robin and his funny red replacement," Joker exclaimed. "I wasn't sure exactly what I would catch when I baited this trap, but this isn't a bad haul. It's not Batsy, but not a bad haul at all. Now the question is just what to do with you."

"You can send me to hell for all I care, just as long as you come with," Jason choked out.

"Oh, that's sweet, my lost little Robin and I together forever."

Jason shuddered but nodded. "Might as well let the replacement go though. Send him back to Gotham to tell everyone what happened, right?"

Joker laughed. "Oh, but why would I settle for just one birdie when I've got two in the hand? I know we have a history together, but I don't see why we can't include one more in our special little relationship. I brought the crowbar for old time's sake."

Tim tried not to shiver. Joker was scary in a way very few of the criminals he faced were.

Jason nodded. "Fine, it's only fair that I'm first."

"Well I wouldn't want you to get jealous," Joker said, his grin stretching even wider as he approached with the crowbar.

"I'm buying you time, moron," Jason whispered to Tim. "Don't you dare waste it. And I'm keeping him busy until… the end."

Tim nodded (probably only ten minutes left before detonation) and tried not to look as the crowbar collided with the side of his brother's head, shattering the mask he was wearing.

Tim tried to block out the sounds of the strikes and whimpers next to him. There was a window to his left. Impossible to tell the thickness of the glass, but it was his best shot. He knew they were on the second floor but he could handle the drop, or he could do something better.

Tim dove at the window. He could hear the spray of gunfire as he leapt, and the shatter of breaking glass. Mid air he rotated, firing his grappling gun at the roof and praying it would grip onto to something. He got lucky.

Relatively concealed on top of the warehouse he paused to catch his breath and consider his next move. He had a feeling that Jason wasn't expecting a rescue. But that was just too bad because Tim didn't leave people behind, regardless of if they wanted it, or even if they deserved it. Tim could hear Joker's men searching the surrounding area. Peering out, he tried to get a count of how many were out there. At least five. Tim wondered how many were still left with Joker. Impossible to say. Reinforcements could have been called in. It didn't matter anyway. Tim wasn't worrying about the odds of success, some things just had to be done. Only around five minutes left. He couldn't spend too much time congratulating himself on his morality.

Thanks for reading. Feedback is always amazing (hint, hint)


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Not my character, nor have they ever been. They belong to their respective creators and DC.

Jason stayed on his feet as long as he could. He didn't want to give the Joker the satisfaction of seeing him collapse (not again) and the longer he could drag this out the farther away Tim could get. Besides he needed to keep the Joker's attention focused on him until the explosives went off. He wasn't going to let the madman beat him within an inch of his life and then walk out the door leaving Jason to die alone. (not again.)

Jason split blood, hoping he'd managed to get it in the clown's face. He doubted his aim was that good though. Five more minutes Jason told himself. He missed his guns. Joker's men had confiscated those almost instantly.

"You're losing your touch," Jason mumbled, trying to enunciate with with a broken jaw and a split lip.

"You wound me, really you do." Joker took another swing with the crowbar, aiming for Jason's knee.

Jason choked back a scream and tried to tell himself he'd never been fond of that knee cap and forced himself to focus on counting the Joker's goons. There were only three of them still in the room. The rest had disappeared, likely searching for Tim and the three that were left were all trying to avoid looking at Jason. As the Joker swung the crowbar again, eager to show off his backhand, Jason used the split second to pull a knife from his pocket. Just a simple switchblade, but good enough for his purposes. Joker wasn't even looking at Jason's hand, too busy putting all his weight into the blow with the crowbar. Jason barely even had to move as the clown impaled himself on the blade.

Jason grabbed his tormentor and pulled him close, using him as a shield. "Get lost," he yelled hoarsely at the guards who had finally turned their attention back to him. "You have maybe 2 minutes. Get lost."

They were out the window in seconds.

Jason collapsed to the floor, pulling Joker down with him. "Now we just wait."

"This...this isn't a very fun game at all," gasped his captive.

"Games need to end. I'm ending it," Jason said. He'd never have admitted it, but he was glad he wasn't alone. Killer clowns weren't the best company, but

Jason didn't want to die alone again. He didn't want to die alone and he didn't want anyone he actually cared about to die with him. This was the best solution. The only one. The plan since Tim had come to him a week ago.

Tim was about to repel down from the roof, when he saw three of Joker's minions leap out the window. He raised his eyebrow and waited a few more seconds. They hit the ground and struggled to drag themselves away from the warehouse. Tim nodded and resumed his climb.

Tim pulled himself in the window and froze at the scene before him. Jason was on the floor, his arms around Joker in both a hug and and a pin. A pool of blood surrounded them. Tim was afraid to find out whose it was.

"Hood," Tim asked.

No response.

"Jay?" Tim approached cautiously.

Jason groaned, not releasing his hold on Joker.

"We've got to get out of here," Tim insisted. 45 seconds left, if he was lucky. Not enough time to try to disarm the explosives even if he wanted to.

"Now," Tim said, trying to pull Jason to his feet.

"G'out of here Timmy, before you get yourself killed."

Tim shook his head. "I'm not leaving you. We had a plan and we're sticking to it."

"Had my own plan," Jason admitted.

Tim grabbed his brother's arm and tried to pull him away from the Joker. "Jay, please…. I mean it. If you don't go, I don't go. Is that what you want?"

Jason finally turned to properly look at his brother. "Why can't you see that I belong here? With him? It'll finally be over."

"It'll be over anyway," Tim said pulling Jason away from the Joker and towards the window. How many more seconds, he wondered, 30?

Jason stopped fighting him, but he wasn't helping either, and the descent down the building with far slower than Tim would have liked.

"Can you walk at all?" Tim asked, dragging his brother towards the cover of the trees. He realized that he was wasting his time and Jason had lost consciousness.

They barely passed the tree line when the explosion hit.

**I think there's maybe one more chapter to go. Thanks for reading. Feedback is always appreciated. **


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